Music Musings
by JH-hollyberry
Summary: 1983. Steven Hyde comes across a new record in his album shipments, displaying a familiar face with haunting memories. Eric Forman, having returned from Africa with a disappointing welcome, disappeared into the city lights. Donna Pinciotti, stuck in what once was, still a DJ of Point Place. Jackie Burkhart, finding herself in the world of music as she pushes through the past.
1. Chapter 1: Record Reminisce

**Okay! So this is a very..._trying_ new story of mine...one that will definetly be updating rather slowly. I really have been wanting to get one of these Jackie/Hyde stories because I absolutely LOVE JH. But... I also have another PJO story going on...AND, this isn't exactly my only account...soooo...yea.  
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**Anyways, heres one for the fans :)  
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**I don't own That 70's Show.**

**Luv- _JH-hollyberry:)_**

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_Thwap!_

A hum of indifference elicited from the searching man's lips, as he continued to finger through the shelved records, flipping them to the side after reading their titles to verify the order and placement. While alphabetizing records wasn't his favorite passing time, it was better than other various jobs he was sure he would hate.

_Thwap! _

Lips twitched into a pleased grin, an appreciative grunt rumbling his throat at the familiar printed lettering '**Led Zeppelin' **on the cover. It remained tucked between the other 'L' albums, and held a high regard as being his favorite band for many long years, the familiar tunes having been a constant in his youthful years.

_Thwap!_

Continuing to paw through the stacked section, Steven Hyde, owner and now CEO of W.B's record store _Grooves,_ tapped his foot to the music that sounded from a small radio sitting high up on the shelf above his desk, 'The Rolling Stones' lyrics filling the room with a steady rock rhythm.

_Thwap! _

As the song finished, fading it's final note to a paused quiet, a familiar voice crackled from the speaker, "_Alright everyone! Again, that number was a hit selected from fans favorite, The Rolling Stones, Sympathy for the Devil; givin' to you by Hot Donna!"_

Hyde snorted at the peppy tone of his old friends voice, the enthusiasm fed to fans for show. A sizzle followed her usual catchphrase, as well as the usual excitement of it's likeness to bacon.

_Thwap!_

Things had been well for the former basement gang in the year of 1982. Donna, continued to run her own DJ company as 'Hot Donna', also continuing her on-off again relationship with Randy, who still obsessed over his hair.

_Thwap!_

Kelso, the basement's pretty boy, married the hot librarian Brooke, currently residents of Chicago and raising his daughter Betsy. He continued his career as a cop, and while he mellowed out with passing years, his head still seemed empty with air.

_Thwap!_

Eric...was a mystery. Hyde had last seen and/or heard from his favorite geek seven months previous to the present date. After returning from Africa, the young Star Wars fan had found nothing was as he had left. In fact, the entire gang was broken. With no warm welcome in waiting, he disappeared, leaving in his wake worried friends, a grieving blonde DJ, and a nervous wreck of a mother.

_Thwap!_

Fez, the candy-addict foreigner, still remained unsettled. While his relationship status upgraded, job hunting continued to be a dilemma. Though it did not seem to faze the happy man, who was making up for years of loneliness from being single, to dating the sweet girl, Sarah, who just so happened to work at the Sugar Shack.

_Thwap!_

Steven chuckled to himself as he reminisced memories spent with his old friends, happy with the outcome of the burnouts of the basement. His years of youth had been filled with tainting, yet thrilling experiences, and the only gash of the past that ended without closure was...

_Nope. Stop thinking, _he mentally berated himself, and continued to flip through the records, sorting them into their appropriate order.

_Thwap!_

"Excuse me, Sir? Are you the owner of this place?"

Hyde halted in his lost thoughts and busy hands, turning to see a young gentleman with a square shoulder jacket and determined hazel eyes, shifting nervously as he stood with fidgeting fingers.

Steven arched a brow above the rim of his brown lenses. "Yup. That's me. What can I do for you?" he offered casually, the stereotypical service line rolling of his tongue with ease.

The anxious teen smiled politely, "I've been searching for a record store that holds a specific album that just recently came out, but everywhere I've been, they're already sold out. Do you think you could help me?"

The basement burnout shrugged, "Sure man, I just got a new box of the latest hits sitting in the back. Just give me a name and I can go check it for you," he relayed, gesturing with a nod to the back of the building.

Relief flooded the hopeful teen's eyes, gasping out his gratefulness, "oh man thanks! I have been looking _everywhere, _but the record is going so fast I can barely keep up!"

Becoming slowly irritated, Hyde sighed with a nod, "alright alright, your welcome. Now who's the artist?"

"Jackie Burkhart."

Steven gave a nod and turned towards the back door before halting. He stood stiffly, blinking rapidly behind obstruent sunglasses as his mind registered the name he had just heard.

Turning back to the teen tensely, he frowned, "I'm sorry, did you just say Jackie Burkhart?"

A shudder ran through his spine with how familiar the name tasted on his tongue. But surely he was hearing wrong...

However, the young customer looked at him incredulously. "Yeah man, Jackie Burkhart. She's like the new Diana Ross. With just her one album, she's up there with Joan Jett and the others! Her music is the latest thing, not to mention she's hotter than Texas!"

Hyde blinked, his mind buzzing as the teen in front of him continued to ramble on, obviously starstruck by this new pop-star. It couldn't be the same Jackie though...there was no way...He hadn't seen her in three years, after she disappeared one day without a trace. To suddenly hear her name again...

"Sir? Do you think you have the album?"

The teen's hopeful voice snapped him free of his trance, ears ringing with memories that had once been buried, now scratching and clawing at his conscience, trying to resurface in a flurry of images. He needed to be sure that this wasn't some trick.

Sending a glance at the youthful customer, he turned his back to him and began walking with long strides to the door in the back, talking over his shoulder, "sorry man, I don't think we have that album here. You'll have to keep looking."

Frowning, the teen called after him, "wait! But..."

His spluttering was cut off as Hyde disappeared behind the door, cutting off his voice as he stalked purposely toward the newly shipped box stacked in the storage. He didn't care if he was losing a customer, right then, he just wanted to know; _needed _some sort of confirmation that this is all just a mistake.

Ripping the tape in one fluid motion, he ignored the snoring old hippie that was asleep nearby on the floor and carelessly threw it to the ground and pulled back the flaps that concealed the new records. Leo could sleep through a freight train, so there was no need to be quiet.

The full box showed stacked glistening record covers, each with a different title in varied font, a picture plastered on the front for emphasis in it's sealed case. Scrambling with anxious fingers, he sifted through the first row before continuing to the second, determined to find what he sought.

And finally there it was. Muscles contracted tightly, tensing all and every movement in his body as he slowly plucked a smooth record from the series of albums.

On the front cover, raven locks curled into precise loose rings, mismatched eyes dazzling, and plump lips tilted into a seductive smirk, a familiar and enchanting figure was posed cutely onto the page. Her form looked petite, just as it had always been, but more pronounced curves now that she was older. She wore black leather pants, matched with high heeled ebony boots, an aqua blouse with a slanted neckline, revealing a single bare shoulder and around her waist was a silver buckle.

To say she looked great was the understatement of the century. The ex-cheerleader, rich, popular, small town girl of Point Place had become one of the hottest hits of the coming era.

Blue eyes locked onto every curve, every feature of this brunette beauty, making every memory of his youth flash behind his wide orbs.

Even more astonishing, the title italic lettering printed along the crisp side of the album cover reading... Jackie Burkhart: _The Devil_


	2. Chapter 2: Hotel Hauntings

**Alright, here's chapter 2! Now, just warning you right now, I am going to have quite a bit of Jackie/Eric FRIENDSHIP in here. While I respect the pairing, it's very...un-canon. Anyways, you'll see a few flashbacks as to how they came to running into each other.**

**Also, this is slightly AU in the way of timeline. As most fans do, I happen to reeaaally dislike Season 8. And as to clear that up, I decided that all that crap that happened after Jackie and Hyde broke up because of Sam the stripper, and other such problem, Kelso in a towel for example, I erase that from this timeline. INSTEAD, they just broke up and after two months of Sam being in the picture, Jackie disappeared without a trace. Eric's story is he didn't come home till quite a while later, and everyone was sort of scattered. So he also disappeared. Anyways, I'm rambling, so here is the story. I think I'm forgetting something so if I remember, I'll tell ya ;)  
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**Oh! Yea, so the song is Stars Dance by Selena Gomez.  
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**Aaaand that's it!  
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**I don't own anything.**

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"_Wake up to your dreams, and watch them come true."_

He could hear her singing in the shower, voice rebounding off the bathroom tiles as she cleansed her hair and body in peace. He recognized the lyrics from one of her albums songs, a favorite to her growing public.

"_I'll make you whisper my name, and never leave the room. Night and day...I'll be your muse."_

Ever since the record hit off across the country with blooming success, her once dull confidence as he had found her, returned with awakening spirit. It was a radiant sight for the once innocent blinding beauty to show some of her child-like charm once again, no longer as much of a bitter woman that she had become.

"_No other girl can make you feel the way I do!"_

Chuckling to himself, the young man crossed his ankles as he leaned against the bed's headboard, flipping casually through a magazine. The hotel room was airy, a fresh scent of lemon hung drifting in the atmosphere from leftover cleaning odor. With the blank ebony screen of the TV, and the soft yet lulling voice of his twittering companion, his mind began to roam to troubling thoughts, memories that festered in his heart like a sliver pulled free.

"_I can make the stars dance...light up the moon! _

_I can make the stars dance...if you want me to!"_

With a frown creasing his brow, he reached over to the nightstand in between the two accompanying beds, fingers prying open his wallet and pulling free a small wrinkled photograph, the ink painting a picture of a happy, narrow-limb teen, arm wrapped possessively around a stunning redhead. Their eyes seemed to sparkle, with obvious adoration to one another.

"_The sky is everywhere, so meet me under there._

_I can make the stars, dance, dance, dance for you, you, you..."_

"_Don't be afraid...close your eyes. Let me take you to places that you've never been tonight!"_

"_I thought by now, you'd realize. I can do anything I put my mind to...ooh"_

A bitter-sweet smile stretched his lips, mismatched with the worry-lined forehead. Those were simpler times, without thought of the future, without worries of the real world. Just a life full of friends, love, and getting into mischief. When had things become so...complicated?

"Hey bean-pole."

Hazel eyes snapped to attention to the figure leaning in the doorway to the bathroom, a knowing glint in multicolored orbs. He hadn't even noticed the singing had stopped, nor the running water. With observant eyes, he also noted that her hair and makeup was finished to the pristine touch. How long had he been reminiscing?

"She misses you, ya know."

Dropping his gaze to the photo gripped desperately, almost pathetically, in his grasp, the young man sighed. "How would you know? You haven't talked to her in almost two years," he challenged.

The raven-haired girl rolled her eyes, blue and green spheres rotating in exasperation. "Just call it a girl intuition. You said that when you came home those number of months ago, she, I quote, '_hated'_ you. The opposite of love isn't hate, it's indifference. So she must still feel _something _for you."

With raised brows and a teasing expression, brown eyes snapped up to hers, his words lightening the mood of the conversation. "Since when did you become the guru of love?"

Playing along, the young woman's mouth fell open in mock hurt, hand on her heart as she gasped, "ahem, excuse me? I'm Jackie Burkhart, I'm like the encyclopedia of all things beautiful!"

"Pfft. Whatever you say, devil."

A breath-taking smile adorned her face at the sound of her old nickname, and he felt swelled pride bloom in his chest at the sight. She had healed well, despite how far she had fallen. That night they found each other, both lost and alone, had been the beginning of a very late-processed friendship of old acquaintances.

He remembered the rain, how she had been drenched in the water that poured all around, curled locks clung to pale skin, clothes stuck to her body, protruding every bone and curve. The lightening had been flashing violently, blue and green orbs glowing with emotions as every thunder that clapped alighted her eyes eerily, showing the raw broken mess behind the beauty of soft skin and doe eyes.

The shaking of her limbs as he dragged her into shelter of a nearby cafe, sending soothing words into her ear, desperate for a reaction from the stone faced female that had once been so full of life, enough to annoy the hell out of him. It had literally scared him at how empty and desperate she had become, so collapsed within herself to not feel her physical energy wavering. After many long nights with coaxing, they had helped one another heal from inner wounds.

Comparing that lost soul to the bright one standing poised in front of him, Eric felt his grin stretch even farther. She had grown so strong, finding love in singing and writing her own songs. Apparently, without anyone ever knowing, she had always dappled in writing her own tunes, words that weaved their own tale of her heart. Seeing her work, twirling penmanship onto a page with such quiet dwelling emotion was amazing.

"Come on, geek. We gotta get to the train station on time," she announced, clapping loudly as she turned to hoist a very large and dense suit case upright.

Rolling his eyes at her ridiculous antics, the sci-fi loving male stood, shaking his head as he gathered his own belongings to prepare for their departure. "I still don't get why we are taking a train. Why not just take a plane?"

Scoffing, Jackie turned with hands on hips, "I _told _you Eric! I want to take a train! It should be fun, exciting! I want to know what it's like!"

The young Forman sighed defeat as he zipped up his bag. "Fine. Sheesh, you and your crazy adventures lately. I'm serious, you have taken interest in the weirdest things lately. I'm glad you have a career now so you can settle down."

"Whatever. I know you secretly liked those tango lessons I forced you to take with me," she smiled devilishly, tone teasing as she flipped her hair over a shoulder.

Resenting, he held his hands up in surrender, "yea, okay. The dancing was fun. But not the other stuff! The Karate was horrible!"

"Oh come on. You only say that cause you got beat up."

Electing to ignore that comment, Eric shrugged. "I guess that some of the other classes were okay though. I mean, it's good you learned to cook. And the gymnastics was fun to watch." Turning with a Cheshire grin, he waggled his eyebrows as he spoke, "seeing you flip around in a skimpy outfit was a benefit."

He barely had time to duck as a makeup bag flew past his head.

"How dare you disrespect me? I was trying to find myself, Eric! Now come on Nerd, pick that up! We need to go!" she demanded, pivoting on her heel as she flounced toward the lobby.

Once again he rolled his eyes. Some things never changed.

As they checked out of their room (not without Jackie having to autograph a napkin) and stood on the curb, waiting to hail a cab, Jackie suddenly turned to her friend with a concerned gleam in her eyes. "Eric, are you ready for this?"

Letting a breath out deeply, shoulders dropping an inch, he turned to her with blatant stress. "No. Red is gonna kill me, if Donna and some of the others don't get to me first."

Jackie nodded, not saying a word as he continued.

"But what if they _don't _care? That's whats even more nerve-wracking. What if they've all just completely moved on? Like I don't even matter..."

His voice sounded so hurt, so lost. She turned to him with understanding flashing in her irises, the depths of her blue and green pools pulling him into a sense of comfort.

"Eric, I can't say that everything is going to turn out perfect, but I do know that they care, even if some are too stubborn to show it. You'll see," she offered a sweet smile.

Feeling soothed by her genuine words, he smiled back. "Thanks Jackie. I know how much this is putting yourself on the line since you're in even a tighter spot with everyone than I am...but I do appreciate you willing to come with me anyways."

The petite beauty grinned at him, flipping her hair in a very familiar fashion. "Your welcome. But I'm not selfless. I have a meeting with a music producer who is interested in sponsoring me in Point Place, remember? I'm benefiting too," she winked.

Before he could respond she shoved even more baggage in his hands, nearly toppling over his skinny limbs, and turned determined toward the street. "Now excuse me as I get us a ride."

Eric could only watch as she tied a knot in her shirt, showing off a bronze toned core as she approached the road sauntering her hips. With a professional Taxi whistle, and a wave of her hand, three cabs screeched to a halt on the road, all male drivers with bugged out eyes.

Turning back with a smug look, she winked once again at Eric.

He smiled back. Yep, she's the devil.


End file.
